“The main enemy” and “the most dangerous country” are very different.

According to today’s Nikkei, one third of the high and junior school students in South Korea consider that the main enemy (主敵) of (South) Korea is Japan. Those who consider that it is North Korea are half of the answer “Japan” (17%). It is probably that young Koreans, that is, the next leading generation in Korea, strongly dislike Japan.

On the other hand, almost no Japanese people would be surprised at the result, except for rightists. Here is a serious problem.

The reason that most Japanese do not care of it is probably that they would feel people in South Korea are childish. Actually, the word “the main enemy” (主敵) itself sounds foolish in Japan.In Japanese, similar concept can be written as “the most dangerous country” and such. “The main enemy” and “the most dangerous country” are very different. The former is a kind of one fixed word in kanji culture (even if it is written in Hangeul), while the latter is an exchangeable common phrase with normal words including adjectives.

The reason that I think here is a serious problem is that there is the big gap between the two people. A minds B seriously, while B minds A indifferently*. His “love” will be not returned after all. This gap is more dangerous than the one when two people dislike each other. It is like between European countries and their former colonial countries.

* In Japanese, this sentence can be simple without A and B: 一方は他方を真剣に思っているのに，その他方は一方に無関心. The big difference is that in Japanese, one can modify pronouns with adjectives. For example, 美しい日本の私. It is, word for word, “Beautiful Japan’s I/me/myself.” It was the title when 川端康成 (Kawabata Yasunari) spoke at the award presentation ceremony of the Nobel prize for Literature.

I consider it is small possible that Japan and Korea will become the relationship between France and Germany. Because I consider South Korean is still unstable as the country of liberalism and democracy. Although many people in the world may think differently, I consider South Korea is still closer to totalitarianism.

In South Korean, the government, the mass media and people very often refer to the same, single opinion when the theme concerns Japan. The different opinion about Japan is almost not allowed to mention. If somebody speaks differently, he will be often isolated. This suggests Korean democracy is very unstable.

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According to today’s Nikkei, one third of the high and junior school students in South Korea consider that the main enemy (主敵) of (South) Korea is Japan. Those who consider that it is North Korea are half of the answer “Japan” (17%). It is probably that young Koreans, that is, the next lead